Devin Gardner performed admirably in Denard Robinson's place against Minnesota.Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com

ANN ARBOR -- Denard Robinson. Devin Gardner.

Devin Gardner. Denard Robinson.

It's all the rage these days.

Michigan's quarterback situation, with Robinson trying to shake off an elbow injury that sidelined him for the past six quarters, has sparked debate about the future of both players -- including Gardner's 2013 fate.

We don't know some things, most notably when Robinson will return. But we do know other things, such as Robinson will quarterback the Wolverines when he's healthy enough to perform those duties.

I repeat: He is the quarterback, when he's healthy. That's not in doubt.

Although, judging from the volume of questions pertaining to that topic, maybe it's not quite clear. We dwell on the issue in this week's mailbag:

Question: What are the odds of Brady Hoke giving Devin Gardner the start even if Denard Robinson is ready? This would allow Denard to rest up and heal a bit more for the last couple of games and get Gardner some valuable game experience heading into next year. -- Big Blue Machine

Answer: 0 percent. It's as simple as that.

When Robinson is healthy enough to play -- even if he's not 100 percent -- he's playing, regardless of how Gardner performs. He's a record-setting senior captain with three games (plus the postseason) left in his career. Michigan's going to get him on the field as soon as it can.

A ripple effect of that, of course, is Gardner can then slide back to receiver. His replacement there has been Jerald Robinson. Michigan gets a major upgrade there, when Denard Robinson returns.

Question: I know Gardner's performance may have been a fluke, but he looked solid after the rust fell off. He is a pass-first, run-second QB. I just don't understand why you don't utilize Robinson as a slot or running back, or even on special teams. -- Gary in Ohio

Answer: Let me get this out of the way first: Robinson will not play any position other than quarterback, nor should he. Not with three games (plus the postseason) left in his career. This isn't a video game, where you can just jumble guys around.

Robinson is a quarterback, and that's the way it'll be. He's never played slot back (Michigan doesn't even use slot backs in its offense, by the way), and he's never played running back. They won't move him now to a foreign position -- especially one that's going to put him in even more danger of re-injuring his elbow.

As for Gardner, I'm not sure (yet) I'd call him a pass-first, run-second quarterback. That's how he was utilized against Minnesota, but that had a lot to do with preserving his health as well, with Robinson and Russell Bellomy unavailable.

His numbers were nice in the game, but remember: His receivers bailed him out several times, and Minnesota's defense is pedestrian.

I'm not ruling out Gardner as a true passer. But I haven't seen enough after one game to call him a true passer, either. That's especially true considering his struggles through the air the past two seasons.

He had a nice debut. Just be careful how much you extrapolate from that.

Question: Has the injury to Denard made the coaches more conscious to have a reliable backup who can come in and move the team? -- Dave

Answer: The coaches have always been cognizant of this. They have to be, no matter what, and that's particularly true when employing a running quarterback as the starter. Injuries comes with the territory with those guys.

Coaches have said they believed Russell Bellomy was prepared to play against Nebraska. Thing is, until a quarterback gets meaningful game reps, it's difficult to know exactly what you got.

That position, more than any other, changes dramatically from practice to game reps. Only so much can be simulated before the bullets fly. Bellomy looked ready in practice, coaches said, but didn't handle the big stage well.

Question: Jake Ryan has been outstanding on defense. Will he be rewarded by being named to some All-American lists? -- Gretchen

Answer: He should, based on the impact he has for one of the country's best defenses. Ryan, simply, is a playmaker. He leads the Big Ten in tackles for loss with 12.0 (10 of which were solos), and is 12th nationally among linebackers. He has 3.5 sacks, which is third among Big Ten linebackers.

The problem is he is only a sophomore, and I'm not sure he has the name recognition nationally to compete for All-America status. He also has only 65 tackles, which could hurt him. That leads Michigan, but trails many linebackers nationally, and these things are doled out based on stats more than anything.

He'll get all kinds of Big Ten honors, though, after terrorizing most of the league's offenses.

Question: Can you break down the offensive line and why players are not making their blocking assignments? Is it a matter of technique or talent, especially as we now hear that Hoke is considering "shuffling" players on the line. -- Blueroses

Answer: I've asked about the specific problems facing the offensive line, and gotten mostly general answers. It seems the bottom line is the line is stalemating, at best, defensive lines. And that's a win for the defense.

Michigan simply needs push out of its offensive front, and isn't getting it -- at least, from the interior. Tackles Taylor Lewan and Michael Schofield seemed to play well.

But Elliott Mealer and especially Ricky Barnum played poorly against Minnesota, and Patrick Omameh didn't have a great day either. Barnum was the worst of the bunch, consistently getting beat. He was directly culpable for two sacks.

Hoke, who rarely calls out players or publicly puts positions up for grabs, said this week that guard Joey Burzynski and center Jack Miller have practiced with the ones and could vie for spots in the lineup. That should tell you all you need to know about where Michigan's interior offensive line stands.

Question: I was expecting to see a lot more of OL Kyle Kalis this year. Is he buried on the depth chart? Did he fall short of expectations? It seems all I heard about this guy was that he was a mean SOB and gonna be a force on the line, so I've been a bit surprised not to see him. -- Steve in Denver

Answer: No reason to be worried, Steve. He's a true freshman, and offensive line is the most difficult position on the field to play as a true freshman. That's due largely to simply not having a college-level strength program, which puts freshmen at a severe disadvantage at a position so physical. It also takes time to pick up the protection and blocking schemes, which are far more complicated than anything seen in high school.

Remember, not even Jake Long played as a true freshman. Nor did Taylor Lewan. Nor David Molk. And those are three of Michigan's finest offensive lineman of the past decade.

Expect Kalis to slide into a role, probably a starting role, next year. Michigan loses at least three starting linemen (Ricky Barnum, Elliott Mealer and Patrick Omameh), and four if Lewan declares early for the NFL. Michigan loses both guards, where Kalis could step in right away and compete.

Question: Offensive lineman recruit David Dawson had his scholarship revoked recently because he wished to take visits to other schools, and now it appears Gareon Conley will test Hoke's 'no-visit' policy as well. Do you feel in the future we may lose a few recruits because they now wait a while to commit, thus allowing other schools to swoop in on them? -- Terry_Star21

Answer: I was talking with a recruiting analyst recently about the no-visit policy, and how it's sort of hypocritical that Michigan will host recruits committed to other schools, but won't let its own commits make visits. And he said something that has stuck with me.

If you can get away with it, then who cares?

What he meant is, if Michigan can attract these kinds of recruiting classes while telling prospects up front that they can't visit elsewhere, then it's in Michigan's best interest to do it. Who cares what other schools allow or don't allow?

Of course, there's an "if" there, and the "if" being whether recruits will still bite despite the policy. The track record shows right now that Michigan can get the guys it wants, and so although it may scare away certain guys with the policy, it still gets top players.

And that helps Michigan.

It will take the collateral losses, such as a Dawson, to shield its 20-something other players from the competition. So far, it's working.

Kyle Meinke covers Michigan football for MLive.com. He can be reached by email at kmeinke@mlive.com and followed on Twitter @kmeinke.